


Winding Down

by Prodigal_anon



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Comfort, Cuddling, Other, Tickling, kevriel, platonic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-26
Updated: 2016-09-26
Packaged: 2018-08-17 11:15:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,575
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8141788
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Prodigal_anon/pseuds/Prodigal_anon
Summary: Kevin succumbs to his fears and anxieties sometimes.  Luckily, the archangel assigned to protect the prophet is on the job.





	

Gabriel always knows. Even before Kevin himself is fully aware of it, lately, Gabriel always senses when the prophet shit is tilting Kevin dangerously towards the deep end, towards the dark water where nightmares and hallucinations and substance abuse lie.  The Trickster senses it and is there every time, in pretty good time usually, and heads Kevin off in a different direction.  

 

Kevin feels like he should be more annoyed by this.  He’s pretty certain that Gabriel is looking inside his head to know when Kevin’s approaching a meltdown, and not only is this an invasion of his privacy, but it’s just – embarrassing.  There’s a lot of embarrassing secrets in his head, and the fact that he still can’t cope with monsters under the bed is high up on the list, especially when most of the monsters that terrify Kevin don’t even register to the being who’s taken it upon himself to cast his aegis over him.  And Gabriel does mock him for it, pretty regularly, teasing and imitating his frightened features.  The Trickster occasionally enjoys putting amusing pictures of Kevin in various startled moments on the background of everyone’s phone and laptop – Kevin would be more bothered by it if similar pranks weren’t being pulled on the others (he’s lost track of how many times he’s seen his phone background change to pictures of Dean and Cas staring intensely at each other, for example). Gabriel can be a dick sometimes.

 

But still, dick or not, Gabriel shows up and defuses Kevin’s fears every time.  He coaxes Kevin along when it’s a situation the prophet ought to be able to handle, and stands powerful and immovable between him and real danger when it’s simply too much.  When the “bastard off-shoot” evil djinn captured Kevin, it had forced him to live out his nightmares of Crowley and his demons chasing Kevin through dark abandoned buildings while his mom screamed in pain somewhere Kevin couldn’t reach her – it had been Charlie who’d guided him out of the nightmare, but it was Gabriel who came to him days later when Kevin was hiding in his closet and crying. It was Gabriel who sat next to him for hours and told him stories about other gods and monsters and interesting humans he’s met over the centuries, and it was Gabriel who pulled him into his lap finally and stroked his hair and put him to sleep.  None of that showed up on anyone’s phone, either.  

 

So, yeah, annoying though Gabriel can be and embarrassing as it is to be so weak in front of him, Kevin trusts Gabriel.  Will it bite him in the ass later?  Maybe, but Kevin is ignoring that little worry in favor of letting there be one person that he trusts with his vulnerabilities.

 

So Kevin’s not really surprised when Gabriel shows up when the prophet is having a moody moment (and isn’t it messed up that he’s starting to think of himself as “the prophet”? Not, “the kid from Neighbor, MI” or “the AP student” or “cellist” or anything like that).

 

Kevin is sitting on the couch not really watching a cooking show that features a hot Australian chef. It’s one of his secret pleasures normally – one that Gabriel usually enjoys with him, in fact – but it’s not doing its magic today.  Kevin’s not even that upset, exactly, or not yet at any rate, but everyone’s cleared out of the bunker again to do their thing, leaving The Prophet behind to revel in his new life of never leaving the bunker and sometimes the reality of it just sucks the life out of him.  They’re all gone, leaving him alone in this creepy empty bunker, off chasing monsters that Kevin can’t fight because he’s a juicy target and he isn’t strong enough to be reliable on a hunt.  But when he’s here, alone, he remembers the misery of being here before, when everything was actively chasing him, when Crowley was a wall away… dim memories of wandering these halls invisible as a ghost, which trigger faint, barely-there memories of Sam-not-Sam touching his face, eyes burning blue…

 

Gabriel arrives while Kevin is staring listlessly at the TV, and barely gives The Prophet a chance to scowl at him before shaking his head and snapping his fingers.

 

The TV shuts off and Kevin is abruptly in his pajamas – and they’re actually his own pajamas, a pair of comfy frayed cotton pants with a T-shirt that has a bird in glasses saying “SCIENCE!!” which Sam bought for him in a souvenir shop somewhere.  Normally,  Gabriel snaps him into something embarrassing, like lacy shortie shorts and a babydoll top.  

 

Kevin’s still frowning in a puzzled way at his PJs when Gabriel is suddenly in front of him, scooping him up effortlessly into his arms.  This does result in a severe scowl but Gabriel tweaks his ribs, making him gasp instead.

 

“Nope.  Nuh uh, none of that sass, young man,” Gabriel announces. “You are clearly in dire need of a snuggle buddy and luckily for you, there is one Trickster present with a  _ lot _ of qualifications in that department.”  

 

He shifts his hand from under Kevin’s legs enough to snap again and then they’re in some unfamiliar place, a bedroom crammed with books and knickknacks and one large, extremely plush bed in the corner which admittedly looks inviting but…

 

“Gabriel, look, I’m flattered, but I’m just not that into y- _ aaack _ !”

 

“Shut up, brat,” Gabriel growls, tweaking Kevin’s ribs and thighs simultaneously as he carries him over to the bed, dropping him on it.  “I said snuggle buddy, not fuck buddy.  And I am gonna snuggle you so hard…!”

 

Gabriel’s also in his own pajamas, Kevin belatedly notices, which consists (this time) of a simple tank top with Grumpy Cat on it, and a pair of red shorts.  Gabriel grins and straddles him.

 

“But first things first. You need to relax and wind down.”

 

Kevin starts to groan in protest but he stops at the finger to his lips.  

 

“Shush, you.  Shush and let Uncle Gabe do his thing.”

 

“You make it sound so creepy,” Kevin complains, but he’s only doing it for form’s sake and Gabriel doesn’t even deign to reply.  

 

Gabriel starts at his feet, picking up just one and starting to just – touch it, gently.  It doesn’t  _ quite _ tickle but it doesn’t quite  _ not _ , and Kevin shifts a little but doesn’t pull away as Gabriel plays with his toes, separating them and flexing them curiously.

 

“I went to Future Madrid today,” Gabriel says conversationally.

 

“Yeah?” is Kevin’s contribution, but he perks up a little.  Gabriel’s jaunts through space and time fascinate him.

 

“Yup.  To La Biblioteca en el Cielo.  Man, Kevlyn, wait till you see it, someday.  The colors, it’s something only you humans could come up with.” He turns Kevin’s ankle a little, this way and that, and then, beginning at the heel, starts lightly squeezing. Kevin  squirms a little but it’s more of a massage and it makes him want to purr, embarrassingly.

 

“…I, uh, I think any l-library where there’s a line to get in would be… uh, pretty cool,” he stutters slightly, eyes fluttering as Grace infuses him where Gabriel’s touching him, lightly massaging up and down the flesh of his foot.  

 

“You’d like future Singapore too, then,” Gabriel says, moving his hands over Kevin’s ankle.

 

“Yeah?”

 

“Not as gorgeous as Madrid’s contribution to the literary world, but twice as enormous, and with big comfy reading areas, and it’ll be the first to make the neurotransmitters for reading holobooks publicly available.”

 

“Wow.  Cool,” Kevin manages, staring at the ceiling.  

 

Gabriel chuckles and moves on to his other foot, doing the ritual of playing with it first.  He does this sometimes, gets into these slightly soft but removed moods, where he’ll touch and examine Kevin’s body with the ostensible excuse of Kevin needing the attention.  And, yes, Kevin does crave the attention, he can admit that in the privacy of his own mind, but Kevin also suspects Gabriel declares “snuggle buddy time” just as much for his own benefit as for Kevin’s.  Maybe as a way to confirm that this human  is his; maybe a way to admire the effect he has on the human body; Kevin doesn’t know and hasn’t asked because he has the sense not to ever bring it up.  

 

He’d have to be stupid to complain about this, anyway, this light rushing tickly massage that washes through him like waves on sand, taking tension away as it recedes.  

 

“I met a babe while I was there.”

 

Kevin snorts startled laughter, a little giddier than usual because the sensation is going through his foot again.  “A b-babe? Ugh, Gabriel!”

 

“One hot tomato, if you know what I mean,” Gabriel grins at him.  “Nothing in this world is sexier than a sexy librarian.”

 

“That’s what Charlie says, too.”

 

“Yup, she’s got good taste, our Queenie.”  Gabriel is starting up Kevin’s calves now.  “I ought to bring you two with me next time.  We can look up future yous and have sex.”

 

Kevin’s giggling now, in part because of the nonchalant way Gabriel talks about having orgies with future versions of oneself and in part because that feeling is approaching his knees now as Gabriel’s clever fingers run over his legs, squeezing gently over the muscle.

 

“You laugh now, but I know how you get when there’s two of you in the room,” Gabriel winks and gently digs in behind Kevin’s kneecap, making him squeal quietly.

 

“Eeeheehee, I d-dohon’t, thahat was a one-time thing!” he protests.

 

“Pfft.  Just because you can’t replicate yourself on a whim.” Gabriel runs his thumbs over Kevin’s kneecaps, carefully, soft flannel covering thin skin covering fragile bone, then moves up to Kevin’s thighs, making the giggles increase slightly.

 

“Did I ever tell you about the time I was a Bollywood star?”

 

“You d-dihihidn’t. But I bet you wehere a total stud.” Kevin’s trying to roll his eyes but he can’t stop the quiet laughter tumbling out of him.

 

“Well, of course, I’m no Sam Winchester, but there’s those that would call me a stud, yeah,” Gabriel beams at him, waggling his eyebrows and wriggling his fingers on purpose across the backs of Kevin’s thighs just enough to make him squirm before going back to the massage.  “I’ll totally show you sometime.  My big musical number was art.  You’ll be setting it as your ringtone.”

 

Kevin’s trying to scowl at him for the Sam Winchester remark, but there’s no heat in it and it’s nearly impossible to frown with how relaxed and giggly he feels.  Gabriel’s hands press and soothe his legs, then move up, skirting around his “swim suit areas” as Kevin had known he would.  He doesn’t actually mind that much anymore when Gabriel goes NSFW – as with all things Gabriel does, the “NSFW” part with him is a matter of tone and style, rather than depending on traditional body areas – but he appreciates that Gabriel is staying true to his word about snuggle buddies rather than fuck buddies.

 

Gabriel teases his hips a little, poking them and running his fingers over the curve of the bone, before slowly and mischievously tugging up the Science Birb T-shirt and smiling at the sharp increase in giggles.

 

“Well, let’s just move on to your little tum tum and sides now, shall we?” he asks in a sing-song voice, playful and merry as he touches his fingers to Kevin’s sides.  Kevin squeals again and slams his hands down defensively.

 

“Cheater!”  Gabriel scolds, gripping Kevin’s wrists and pulling them back up over his head, pressing them into the pillow.  “Keep ‘em up here!  You know what happens if you don’t!”

 

Kevin does know – Gabriel freezes him in place with his Grace and tickles him senseless, as per the rules of this little game they play.  Sometimes, Kevin secretly wants that.  But not this time – he likes the gentle touches and the slow rush of sensation and so he bites his lip and clutches the pillow.

 

Gabriel cracks his knuckles – Kevin groans around his laughter – and sets his fingers down again.

 

The instant they touch skin, Kevin’s off and giggling again.  He squirms as Gabriel lightly and slowly drags his fingernails up and down the slight curve of his waist, and around in spiraling circles across his belly. He dips a finger ever-so-slightly into his belly  button and Kevin makes a weird high-pitched whinnying noise at that, arms jerking, but he manages to keep them up.

 

“I’m impressed, Kevvy! You’ve clearly been practicing!” Gabriel teases before dipping his head down and nibbling gently at his quaking tummy.  

 

Kevin’s laughing hard, now, nonstop, digging his fingers into the pillow and his feet into the mattress. “Shuhuhut uhuhuhp!!”

 

“Aww, Kev.  Come onnnnn.  Doesn’t this feel niiiice?”  he walks his fingers back down Kevin’s waist, pinching just a little here and there, while at the same time pressing little kisses into his tummy.

 

“Nohoho!  Nahahaha it tihihihickles!!”

 

“And look at how relaxed you are,” Gabriel purrs.  “I ought to turn in the Trickster badge permanently.  Go into professional masseusering.  Happy endings both optional and guaranteed, depending what you’re looking for.”

 

“Youhouhou’re such a dohohohork,” Kevin’s giggling nonstop, starting to try to curl in on himself as Gabriel’s fingers tweak at the folds of skin on his sides and belly, and the faint bristle of facial hair threatens to undo him.

 

“Dork?!”  With that, Gabriel’s fingers wriggle rapidly but still lightly across Kevin’s waist, while he brushes his whiskery chin across Kevin’s tummy, and Kevin shrieks and curls up all the way, fingers clutching at Gabriel’s sandy hair.

 

“Aha!  I knew you couldn’t last!”  Gabriel says triumphantly, peering up at Kevin from where he’s wrapped around the Trickster.

 

“Youhou cheated!” Kevin protests, residual chuckles still tripping his words.

 

“How many times I gotta remind you people?  Trickster!” Gabriel scoffs and gently pushes Kevin back down onto the bed.  “But never let it be said I cannot be generous – ”

 

“Oh, great,” Kevin sighs, letting himself be pushed back, “I hate when you-“

 

“…I’ll just make you pay up later,” Gabriel smirks at him, tugging Kevin’s shirt back down and ignoring the pout directed at him.  “For now, let’s just finish you up.  Past Kevvykin’s bedtime.”

 

He tiptoes his fingers across Kevin’s chest, massaging in light circles as Grace pours into Kevin, and it’s at this point that Kevin starts to really feel it.  The tiredness.  He thinks it the combination of the release of stress from the tickling and the massage, as well as the effect of the Grace on his heart, his brain, as it flows through him…

 

He sighs again, loose-limbed and relaxed, only giggling sleepily once more as Gabriel pokes his fingers into his armpits.  The Grace floods up from there, through his shoulders and neck, and even though Gabriel’s tickling him, Kevin feels himself drifting off.

 

“Tell me I’m awesome,” Gabriel whispers.

 

“So awesome,” Kevin mumbles, head dropping to the side, eyes already closed.  He feels what might be a kiss to his forehead – but it might already be a dream, because he’s falling asleep pretty fast after that.

 

Tomorrow, he’ll probably wake up clutching Gabriel like a huge teddy bear, hair messy and rumpled and opening bleary eyes to see those waggling eyebrows a few inches from his face, but those are embarrassments to be dealt with later.  Kevin won’t mind, 


End file.
